{"id":99066,"date":"2026-03-09T02:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=99066"},"modified":"2026-03-08T10:21:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:21:43","slug":"the-first-tank-battle-villers-bretonneux-1918-mark-iv-v-a7v","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/the-first-tank-battle-villers-bretonneux-1918-mark-iv-v-a7v\/","title":{"rendered":"The FIRST Tank Battle \u2013 Villers-Bretonneux, 1918: Mark IV v A7V"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PdlH_FDcDOI?si=Y_Y7mk2P4e1LzpDC\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The Tank Museum<\/strong> and <strong>Queensland Museum<\/strong><br \/>\nPublished 14 Nov 2025<\/p>\n<p>By spring 1918, the British Mark IV tank has been in service for almost a year. It had proved itself during the Battle of Cambrai \u2013 the males attacking concrete emplacements, and the females fending off the infantry. But the Mark IV has never been tested against another tank &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The German A7V hasn&#8217;t served on the battlefield very long. While it has mobility and stability issues, it does have thicker armour than the British tanks \u2013 and is more heavily armed. On paper, this looks like it will be a close call.<\/p>\n<p>Villers-Bretonneux is the first time in history that a tank fought another tank. It&#8217;s a day that would change the face of warfare forever.<\/p>\n<p>00:00 | Introduction<br \/>\n00:50 | The Mark IV<br \/>\n02:57 | The A7V<br \/>\n05:30 | The Battle of Villers-Bretonneux<br \/>\n06:44 | Mark IV vs A7V<br \/>\n09:09 | Who won?<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Thank you so much to our friends at the Queensland Museum! We were delighted to share the screen with Dr Liz Bissell: Senior Curator, Queensland Stories, in the Cultures &#038; Histories team. If you want to find out more about <em>Mephisto<\/em>, and the other items in their superb collection, be sure to check out their YouTube channel here: \/ @queenslandmuseum or see it in person at the Queensland Museum Kurilpa in Brisbane <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museum.qld.gov.au\/kurilpa\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.museum.qld.gov.au\/kurilpa<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>This video features archive footage courtesy of British Path\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>Dawn on 24 April 1918, and a British Mark IV tank commanded by Lt Frank Mitchell has spotted a German A7V looming towards him through the smoke and mist. History is about to be made. Because it&#8217;s the first time that a tank has ever engaged another tank in battle. It&#8217;s a moment that changed warfare forever &#8230; Who would win the first tank versus tank duel? With help from our friends at the Queensland Museum in Australia, we&#8217;ll find out what happened. But first, let&#8217;s take a look at the tanks involved \u2013 and the events that give the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux such a prominent place in history.<\/p>\n<p>Want to learn more about the first tank v tank encounter at Villers-Bretonneux? Here are some sources you might find interesting:<\/p>\n<p><em>Mark IV vs A7V: Villers-Bretonneux 1918 &#8211; Osprey Duel 49<\/em>. David R. Higgins. 2012<br \/>\n<em>Tank Warfare: The Story of Tanks in the Great War<\/em>. Lt Frank Mitchell MC. 1933\/1987<br \/>\nE2006.477 &#8220;A Battle of Monsters&#8221;. Lt Frank Mitchell MC. Unknown<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tank Museum and Queensland Museum Published 14 Nov 2025 By spring 1918, the British Mark IV tank has been in service for almost a year. It had proved itself during the Battle of Cambrai \u2013 the males attacking concrete emplacements, and the females fending off the infantry. But the Mark IV has never been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[331,4,1118,7,5,663,246],"tags":[991,1298],"class_list":["post-99066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-britain","category-germany","category-history","category-military","category-weapons","category-ww1","tag-afvs","tag-museum"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-pLQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99066"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101250,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99066\/revisions\/101250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}